Day 6: Sick in Bangkok

Once again I woke up too early for my liking. It has been a fitful sleep. I had a hard time sleeping, and then when I finally fell asleep, I was woken up by noises from outside my room. First it was a gaggle of ladies having a big laugh from the ground floor of the hostel. The windows of my room were shut tight, so I was wondering why I could hear them so clearly. A quick inspection of the window showed that one jalousie panel was missing. Darn it. They left eventually, and peace was back in the land.

I was able to drift back to sleep, when I was awoken again by another guest and the nighttime receptionist having a rather loud discussion in the hallway. From the gist of it, it seems that the guest brought back a “friend” she made that night, and want him to stay in her room (which is a single, I think). The receptionist argues that guests aren’t allowed, and if he wants to stay, he has to pay for the room. The guest keeps on saying “but he’s my friend,” and “it’s my room.” Eventually the receptionist got frustrated and said she’ll call the police. It was quiet after that.

Around 6am, I woke up feeling really crappy. My nose was clogged and my mouth was really dry. I took a swig of my bottled water, and decided to get up, get more water, Gatorade and take my medicine. I dress and left the hostel, with my wallet and flash drive to post my Day 5 entry at the 24/7 internet shop. The short walk to the shops made me feel a little better. Back in my room, I took the decongestant I bought the night before. I did a quick scan of the literature that comes with the box of medicine and found out that one of the possible effect was insomnia. Geez. When the pharmacist gave me a choice between two types of medicine, she only said one would make me sleepy, and the other would not. I chose the non-antihistamine and ended up not getting enough sleep. Wonderful.

There are no TV inside the guestrooms at Shambara, but there is one in the small common area. I didn’t want to spend all my time there, so I just stayed inside my room, and started watching a Japanese drama in my laptop. By 10am, I took a break and went to the travel agent’s office to pick up my train ticket. I’ll be taking the international express later in the month, and the Seat61 website recommends buying tickets in advance to ensure that you get a seat, since it gets full pretty quickly. I decided to buy through Charlie Connexion, a travel agency that I used before to buy my train tickets to Surathani. They charge a THB250 for their service, and they’re very reliable. Outside their office, I saw a sign that advertises for the airport bus going to the airport for THB 150. It’s the same price as the rate coming in from the airport, so I thought it’s a pretty good deal already. We passed signs for the new airport on the bus ride from Aranyanphratet, and it was so much farther from the city than Don Muang was. The last time I was here, I took the taxi to the airport and paid THB250, and that was only to Don Muang.

It was time for brunch, and I asked the lady who assisted me if there was a restaurant nearby. She directed me to a restaurant at the corner, and I was suckered in because they have pad thai. I asked Ming last night how to tell if a pad thai’s any good. He said that Thai food is all about balance. You get different flavors all at once, and but one is not overpowering the other. I’m not sure if it’s just my tastebuds, but I wasn’t able to taste anything. There wasn’t any sweet, sour or salt. But it wasn’t my tastebuds, since I could cleary taste the salt on my french fries and the pepper in the pork steak I ordered. So was that pad thai a fail? I’m eating another pad thai now at Shambara’s restaurant, and for some reason, I can’t pinpoint any one taste, though I can feel the flavors bursting in my mouth. Something’s wrong with my tongue, I think. Or maybe it’s the clogged nose?

Back in my room, I watch two more Voice episodes and took a nap, in case I don’t get enough sleep again tonight. Though this might mean I won’t be able to sleep because I already slept in the afternoon. What a hassle.

And so here I am now, writing another boring entry. I’ll be walking down Khao San again to go to that Internet shop (the guy manning the computers already recognize me), where I’ll spend another THB 20 for 30 minutes online. Then I’ll walk back to the hostel, where I’ll hole up in my room to ogle Ikuta Toma once more. Hey, I’m sick! I have an excuse to take it easy today.